Documents & Reports

IDA17 Scale-up Facility (SUF) Retrospective (English)

Abstract

During IDA17, the World Bank Group (WBG) actively explored options to enhance its ability to respond to the ambition of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. In this context, Management and shareholders initiated a “Forward Look” exercise to examine... See More +During IDA17, the World Bank Group (WBG) actively explored options to enhance its ability to respond to the ambition of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. In this context, Management and shareholders initiated a “Forward Look” exercise to examine the three interrelated challenges of the changes in the external environment, the WBG’s ability to adapt to these changes, and the WBG’s financial capacity. At the time, recent developments pointed to a gap between a large demand and a constrained supply of resources during the remainder of the IDA17 period. On the nonconcessional financing front, constrained access to Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) funding presented IDA clients trying to finance large infrastructure gaps with difficult choices, such as drawing down limited concessional resources or seeking more expensive private commercial borrowing. In line with guidance and endorsement from IDA Deputies, in March 2016, the Board approved an increase in IDA17 commitment authority by US$3.9 billion to establish an IDA17 Scale-Up Facility (SUF or Facility).The resources were in addition to the regular concessional resources countries received in IDA17, with the Facility also seen to: (i) provide additional financing for high quality projects with strong development impact (e.g., interventions that help clients remove critical constraints to development and that are economically, financially, and environmentally sustainable); (ii) afford Regional teams and beneficiaries the opportunity to gather experience with a non-concessional product from IDA vehicle; and (iii) inform the design of a potential IDA18 non-concessional financing mechanism.The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section two presents the outcome of IDA17 SUF commitments along key country and sectoral dimensions and reviews operational aspects of the Facility underpinning the allocation of SUF resources, including eligibility and allocation criteria, prioritization criteria, and review and oversight modalities.some aspects of the Facility differ from those characterizing the USD 6.2 billion IDA18 Scale-up Facility. Section three presents lessons learned during implementation of the IDA17 SUF and outlines adjustments made to enhance the impact of IDA18 SUF resources.
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